The Ridiculous Machine · Connected Through Play

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The Ridiculous Machine

Have you ever heard of a Rube Goldberg machine? No, well, let me tell you a bit about it and then you can see how today's last build activity starts to make sense. Take a look at the video before you attempt today's activity.

Come back with your questions and also your marvelous creations.

Can you build an incredibly complicated machine to do something ridiculously simple?

Ring a bell. Knock over a cup. Drop a ball into a bowl. Deliver a note.

Pick the ending first. Then invent the most wonderfully unnecessary way you can think of to make it happen.

Gather Your Gear: Hunt for Things That DO Something

Look around for things that roll, tip, slide, spin, bounce, knock, ring, open, close or make something else move. A ball might roll down a book. A toy car might bump a block. A spoon might make a fantastic CLANG. Don't worry about collecting the "right" materials. Hunt for things that make somebody say, "Ooh, what could we do with this?"

Steps

1. Choose your ridiculously simple ending. What should happen at the very end? Keep it simple enough that everyone will know when the machine has done its job.

2. Work backward. What could make that final thing happen? And what could make that happen? Start connecting ideas.

3. Build the route. Make ramps, line things up, add things that roll or fall, use string, recruit a person as part of the machine or invent something nobody expected. Two actions can be enough. Twenty are fine too.

4. Everybody ready? SET IT OFF! Start the machine and see what happens. Cheer when it works. Laugh when it spectacularly doesn't.

5. Go again if you want. Fix the part that stopped. Add another ridiculous step. Shorten the whole thing. Make it stranger. Or declare the glorious disaster your masterpiece and move on.

Twist: The Completely Unnecessary Step

Your machine can reach its ending.

Excellent.

Now add one step it absolutely does not need.

Send a toy car on a pointless detour. Knock over a stuffed animal. Make someone wave a towel before releasing the next object. Send a ball through a tube just to bring it back where it started.

Does it make the machine more efficient? Absolutely not. That's the point.

Change It Up

Explore It | Ages 3-6

Keep the cause and effect big and easy to see. Roll a ball down a ramp to knock something over. Tip one object into another. Let younger builders reset the favorite part and send it again and again. Adults can help connect pieces while children decide what should happen next.

Challenge It | Ages 7-12

Create a chain with several different kinds of action. Something might roll, bump, fall, pull or make a noise before reaching the ending. Build together, take responsibility for different sections or see how wonderfully complicated one simple job can become.

Own It | Ages 13-17

Make the unnecessary complexity part of the challenge. Create an absurdly elaborate route, incorporate people or unexpected objects, or design the whole machine around an inside joke. Decide what counts as a successful run and whether a spectacular failure deserves an encore.

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The Ridiculous Machine